I return to where I started, turn and go back the opposite direction. The shade has deepened. My breath moves easily in my body. I understand that, Now by Now, I’ve felt peaceful. I’ve felt connected to this huge world not by words, but by feelings that are un-nameable.

I decide to take myself to Farewell Bend and the Bill Healy Bridge. I know what I’ll find. Geese will be feeding, their butts luminous in the fading light. There will be a lanky woman on a paddle-board, a joyful dog exploding out of the water; there will be my favorite graffiti I’ve ever seen: a green leaf and the word Integrity.

Sherry handed out digging tools and showed knapweed to her volunteers. She explained the importance of removing it - that knapweed, like all invasives, gobbles up soil and nutrients that native plants and livestock forage need to flourish.